The sun came out this afternoon... I've found the much cooler days and chilly nights haven't yet deterred the bloomin' wasps from being hell-bent on stinging something or someone...wretched creatures will zoom into my shed and buzz about, just as I'm wielding a hot iron or squinting to see if my seams match...didn't want to close the top part of the door because the sun was shining...they took full advantage to pester, while I swot at them with the fly-thingy...
Picked up two interesting snippets later on this afternoon after I'd finished sewing for the day...the collective noun for mice is a mischief...and the other is that the term 'bastard' child was used almost exclusively for high-born illegitimate children when written down in parish records...'base-born' was the term commonly used for those born to the lower classes...actually there are three snippets...never was able to count...the third is that under the Brehon Laws of Mediaeval Ireland, if a servant became pregnant and couldn't do her normal work because of her pregnancy, the man who made her 'with child' was obliged to find a replacement for her job for a month before the baby's birth and a month afterwards...he also had to pay a sum of money to her each week while she wasn't receiving her normal wage. Wonder what happened, if when the girl pointed her accusing finger at the under-gardener, he denied all knowledge...
Also under the Brehon Laws everyone in the community had to be fed, housed and cared for...there were penalties imposed if you were to tease or taunt the mentally ill or those who were disabled...
In many ways that form of collective caring still exists in rural communities...those who don't conform or those who suffer from mental illness or learning disabilities are absorbed into the townlands where they live and are protected...the remembrance of the appalling institutions where un-wed mothers spent miserable lives under the 'care' of the nuns is only too familiar to anyone over the age of forty...now having a baby before you're married is not ever considered a stigma.
Well...it certainly wouldn't be in our street.
Himself went down to see the donkeys this afternoon and met with the next door neighbour ...she declared she has the dose of the 'flu...she was standing in the middle of the road using her mobile 'phone at the time. Himself only tells me things like that because he knows it annoys...
It's almost time for the donkeys to come home for the winter...Himself will enlist the help of Reuben to load them into Jonny's trailer...it's only half a mile, but old Neddy wouldn't manage it...Jack would...there's not a bother on him...he'd probably run all the way with his fat tummy wobbling from the effort.
I do hope you all had a good enough weekend...
